


Reading the Room

by eticatka



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Almost smut, Barclay arrives just in time (no), Barclay is a superhero, F/M, Gen, Humour, Lingerie, Office Sex, POV Barclay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:54:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27729838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eticatka/pseuds/eticatka
Summary: "For a couple of moments, he considered turning back. He was anything but surprised to see the evidence to the romance between his two bosses (he was good at reading the room, after all), but he’d rather go and dig another corpse than embarrass them."
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 22
Kudos: 43





	Reading the Room

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the wonderful frens at Denmark Street Discord! We started rather innocently by discussing a Sam-centered fic, and then suddenly I caught myself in the middle of writing my first almost-smut. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> The mistakes and typos are all mine, I just couldn't wait to share it with you.

Sam was going upstairs, whistling a jolly tune. This was the first case he solved entirely by himself since he started working for the agency, and he felt both proud and hopeful. He already imagined how Strike and Robin would react to his colourful tale. _Who knows, they could be so impressed they’d offer me a permanent contract._

As he was about to burst into the office, he noticed something through the glass door. Something he was ready to see anywhere but lying on the office floor.

A bra.

Sam squinted. As far as he could see, the door to the inner office was firmly shut.

For a couple of moments, he considered turning back. He was anything but surprised to see the evidence to the romance between his two bosses (he was good at reading the room, after all), but he’d rather go and dig another corpse than embarrass them.

He looked at his watch. The team meeting was scheduled in half an hour, and Sam preferred not to imagine what would happen if Michelle or Andy arrived early and discovered the bra on the floor. Or, worse, hear… _Fuck it. Let it be me._ He opened the door as quietly as he could and tiptoed inside.

_*_

_Twenty minutes earlier_

“We have–” Robin tried to catch her breath, while Strike trailed hungry kisses down her neck, “less than an hour–” (inside the opening of her blouse) “until the meeting–” (back to her jawline).

“Then we’d better stop wasting time,” Strike’s voice was low and hoarse, his fingers unbuttoning her blouse. She looked on her watch one last time and caught his hands halfway, finishing the job for him and discarding the blouse on the floor. Strike let out a groan, as he caught Robin’s lips in a devouring kiss and reached for the clasp behind her back. He freed her of her bra and threw it over his shoulder, not really caring where it would land. He let her go to close and lock the door to the inner office, only so that he could press her to that door and continue what he started.

*

Thankfully, no sound was heard from the inner office. Trying to concentrate on the pleasant memories of his completed case and not on what was going inside, Sam extracted a pair of gloves from his inner pocket, put them on and carefully picked up the stray piece of lingerie. The bra had to be removed out of sight before anyone arrived, and it had to be a place easily accessible for Robin: Sam didn’t have any desire to be involved in this afterwards.

Sam looked around quite helplessly. He realised that anyone who’d enter that moment would witness him standing with a strange woman’s bra in the very middle of the office. Too bad if it were Michelle or Andy. _I’m fucked_ if it were Strike or Robin. The blood was pulsing in his ears. _At least I don’t have to listen to them shagging behind the door._

And then he saw it. Robin’s handbag, standing half-open just by the door to the inner office. _Perhaps she dropped it on the floor when he– Shut the fuck up!_ Sam chastised his inner voice, as he picked up the bag, put the bra inside and closed the zipper.

Now he only had to wait. In the name of his bosses’ modesty, he tiptoed back to the exit. He might have imagined that he heard a soft moan just as he closed the door carefully behind him.

*

 _Two minutes later_.

“Just in time,” Strike murmured, his head still positioned between Robin’s thighs. She smiled like she did only when she had not fully recovered from her orgasm. “Now we both have to clean up and get ready for the meeting.”

“It’s easy to say when you came earlier than two minutes ago,” Robin’s breath was still ragged. “Give me a moment to recover.”

Strike got up and reached for the tissues.

“The very look of you makes me hard again, so I’d better turn away.”

It took her a few minutes to finally pull herself together and start getting dressed.

“Have you seen my bra?”

“What? Well, the last time I saw it, it was on you, and then I decided to look on more pleasant things.”

_Bugger. It must be in the dust under his desk, and there’s no way I’m putting it back on._

There were only a few minutes until the start of the meeting. Cursing under her breath, she put on her blouse and a woolen cardigan. She was a little bit too warm, but at least it concealed the absence of a vital piece of her underwear.

*

“Sam? Early bird, as always!” Michelle greeted him with a wide smile and sat down next to him on the farting sofa. _You have no idea what a worm I’ve just caught._

“Yeah, have a bit of news. Caught Greybeard red-handed.”

“You didn’t!”

“The bosses oughta be proud of me.” _And then they’ll fire me._

“Where are they, by the way?”

“They’re having a partners’ meeting, I suppose. Must be here any moment.”

Indeed, the door to the inner office opened, and Strike and Robin appeared. He was slightly disheveled; she was wrapping up her cardigan around her. _Act naturally, for fuck’s sake._

*

_Three hours later._

Sam was walking back and forth across the room, lulling his toddler daughter to sleep. He felt absolutely exhausted, but the feelings of pride and hope occupied his chest once more. They didn’t offer him a permanent contract (just yet), but they didn’t fire him either (just yet). Robin was so impressed by his tale she kissed him on the cheek, and Strike laughed so much that he almost fell down from his chair. Indeed, it all could have been much worse.

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

**Thanks for closing my bag.**

_Fuck._ His optimism slowly disappeared. _How the fuck should I reply to this?_

“I’m asleep,” he muttered. “I had a long day, I could well be asleep by now.”

**I know it was you. I heard you whistling.**

_Fucking detectives._ There was nothing to lose, after all.

**It’d be awkward if I left it open, right?**

**Exactly.**

**Am I fired?**

The wait for her answer seemed to last forever.

**Of course you’re not. Night!**

Sam smiled. Pride and hope seemed to fill his entire body.

**Sweet dreams, boss.**


End file.
